Stimulating Critical Thinking in Engineering Students

Rebekah Oulton

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Encouraging Students to Think Critically
Tagged Division: New Engineering Educators
Page Count: 26
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--28849
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/28849
Download Count: 597

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Paper Authors

biography

Rebekah Oulton PE California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Rebekah Oulton is an Assistant Professor at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She started in Fall of 2013 after completing her PhD in Environmental Engineering at the University of Iowa. She teaches both water resources engineering and environmental engineering, emphasizing water sustainability via wastewater reuse and resource protection.

Her primary research focus is advanced treatment methods for removal of emerging contaminants during water and wastewater treatment. At CalPoly, she works with both civil and environmental engineering undergraduate students to to expand her research into application of wastewater reuse for agricultural applications, as well as effective storm water management via Low Impact Development techniques.

Before Cal Poly, Dr. Oulton was a consulting engineer at Cannon in San Luis Obispo, where her projects included the Guadalupe Restoration Project, storm water management for Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, water management and wastewater treatment projects for local municipalities, and pollution control design for numerous development and remediation projects throughout California.

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Abstract

Critical thinking is found in almost all university programs at all levels, from outcomes and objectives in individual courses to University learning objectives and mission statements. However, helping students develop their critical thinking skills can be one of the greatest challenges instructors face, in any discipline. In engineering instruction, this challenge presents itself clearly when students move beyond their fundamental classes in math and science to their engineering design classes, where – for the first time in their educational careers – there may be more than one approach to solve a problem, and more than one “right” answer to that problem. With this challenge in mind, a quarter-long Signature Assignment was developed to help students develop effective critical thinking skills.

This Signature Critical Thinking Assignment was developed for a Senior-level civil engineering class in groundwater hydraulics and hydrology. The assignment focused on the recently-passed California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and how it could impact both local stakeholders and students’ future careers as engineers working in the groundwater management field. The over-arching goal of this assignment was to help students learn to identify, support and accept diverse points of view on a technical challenge. This goal was addressed through a series of sub-assignments developed by using stages of Bloom’s Taxonomy as a guideline for helping students increase their competency and comfort with critical thinking. Through a focus on current events, assignments engaged students’ prior knowledge, encouraged them to consider multiple perspectives and reassess their assumptions, and develop professional-level skills.

Conducted in Fall of both 2015 and 2016, this Signature Assignment has yielded a number of important results. Students commented that they appreciated the social context for technical material for the class. Students demonstrated genuine organic learning, in that they realized many of the important take-home messages through their own experiences and reflections rather than through lecture-style delivery. Students showed improvements in Critical Thinking skills, based on a standard University rubric. Students were exposed to an extremely relevant situation that is an ongoing challenge for professionals in the field. Most important, student developed increased confidence in both the technical material and in the role they will soon play as professional engineers.

By the end of each term, students were able to represent and support the specific point of view of an individual SGMA stakeholder, and effectively and respectfully debate merits of a proposed solution with representatives of the other stakeholders. They had not only accepted but embraced the idea that there may be more than one “right” way to approach an engineering challenge, and that finding effective and sustainable solutions requires both understanding and respecting multiple perspectives on the issue.

Citation
Format

Oulton, R. (2017, June), Stimulating Critical Thinking in Engineering Students Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28849

TY - CPAPER
AB - Critical thinking is found in almost all university programs at all levels, from outcomes and objectives in individual courses to University learning objectives and mission statements. However, helping students develop their critical thinking skills can be one of the greatest challenges instructors face, in any discipline. In engineering instruction, this challenge presents itself clearly when students move beyond their fundamental classes in math and science to their engineering design classes, where – for the first time in their educational careers – there may be more than one approach to solve a problem, and more than one “right” answer to that problem. With this challenge in mind, a quarter-long Signature Assignment was developed to help students develop effective critical thinking skills.

This Signature Critical Thinking Assignment was developed for a Senior-level civil engineering class in groundwater hydraulics and hydrology. The assignment focused on the recently-passed California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and how it could impact both local stakeholders and students’ future careers as engineers working in the groundwater management field. The over-arching goal of this assignment was to help students learn to identify, support and accept diverse points of view on a technical challenge. This goal was addressed through a series of sub-assignments developed by using stages of Bloom’s Taxonomy as a guideline for helping students increase their competency and comfort with critical thinking. Through a focus on current events, assignments engaged students’ prior knowledge, encouraged them to consider multiple perspectives and reassess their assumptions, and develop professional-level skills.

Conducted in Fall of both 2015 and 2016, this Signature Assignment has yielded a number of important results. Students commented that they appreciated the social context for technical material for the class. Students demonstrated genuine organic learning, in that they realized many of the important take-home messages through their own experiences and reflections rather than through lecture-style delivery. Students showed improvements in Critical Thinking skills, based on a standard University rubric. Students were exposed to an extremely relevant situation that is an ongoing challenge for professionals in the field. Most important, student developed increased confidence in both the technical material and in the role they will soon play as professional engineers.

By the end of each term, students were able to represent and support the specific point of view of an individual SGMA stakeholder, and effectively and respectfully debate merits of a proposed solution with representatives of the other stakeholders. They had not only accepted but embraced the idea that there may be more than one “right” way to approach an engineering challenge, and that finding effective and sustainable solutions requires both understanding and respecting multiple perspectives on the issue.

AU - Rebekah Oulton PE
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Stimulating Critical Thinking in Engineering Students
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/28849
DO - 10.18260/1-2--28849
ER -